Should I buy a diesel pickup?

My diesels past and present:

98 K3500 6.5TD:  22 mpg empty if you were light footed, 12-13 towing 10k

95 F2502wd PSD:  20 empty, 13 towing the same

02 E350 PSD:  17-18 empty, 12 towing

04 K2500 Dmax:  20 empty, 14 towing  (heavily modded)

08 K3500 Dmax: 14 empty, 10 towing (DPF filter kills it)

I had a Cummins 5.9, but it was in a 26' box truck so not apples to apples.

If I were buying a diesel right now, I would get an 06-07 Duramax (or an earlier Dmax that has had injectors done) or a 7.3L.  I would consider a 6.0L ford if it had all the bulletproofing done.  They are actually very stout motors, its just that the oil cooler and egr cooler like to fail.  I very much like the Cummins, just really dislike the Dodge it comes in.  The "cummins" badge also seems to add a pretty hefty resale hike and you'll end up getting less truck for your money compared to a Dmax or Stroke.

Main problem I see is the budget.  $10k doesn't buy much of a diesel.  The diesel itself might be great, but the truck (or what hasn't rusted away/fallen off) will likely have 250k and smell like a dead foot inside.

I don't think the "Dodge trucks suck but the engine is good" applies anymore. I've had no complaints with how my 2010 is holding up, but the 2006 my FIL owns is getting a little rough. Of course, I always treat it like I paid for it and I want to keep it for another 20 years, but it's certainly not falling apart.

Removing the DPF on the Cummins did not dramatically change the economy.

D2W said:

If you are not going to use it alot for what it is meant for (towing, hauling, work stuff), I don't see how you can justify the additional cost. You aren't going to make it back. If you are buying because you like a big powerful truck (I can understand that), then that is a different argument. 

I know many people aren't like me (I change vehicles frequently), but if you have the additional buy-in capital, a diesel is a major win in resale.  Add in the fuel savings (which isn't quite as good as it used to be) and its hard to find a diesel that doesn't put more money back in your pocket compared to gas.

Keith Tanner said:

I don't think the "Dodge trucks suck but the engine is good" applies anymore. I've had no complaints with how my 2010 is holding up, but the 2006 my FIL owns is getting a little rough. Of course, I always treat it like I paid for it and I want to keep it for another 20 years, but it's certainly not falling apart.

Removing the DPF on the Cummins did not dramatically change the economy.

Agreed on the newer Dodges, but in his price range he'd be looking at 20-year old trucks.

Yup. A $10k diesel Dodge around here would probably be, umm, well broken-in.

I have a ‘98 quad cab Dodge, 12 valve cummins. I was expecting the Dodge part to suck but it has held up extremely well. I made intelligent upgrades focused on good towing and reliability. 

So these trucks can be amazingly powerful and reliable (270k miles and not a single breakdown. Ever. Still on original water pump, etc. Almost 1k of torque at 2k rpm, yada yada) But no way could you pry it out of my hands for 10k.

That budget is a tough one for this. I think maybe a good 6.0 gets you better bang for the buck due to bad reputation.

jcamper

I think 6.0l Power Strokes are a tremendous value.  I loved  mine.

I did swap the oil cooler (previous owner had the EGR done, but they didn't use an OEM oil cooler)

Curtis said:

D2W said:

If you are not going to use it alot for what it is meant for (towing, hauling, work stuff), I don't see how you can justify the additional cost. You aren't going to make it back. If you are buying because you like a big powerful truck (I can understand that), then that is a different argument. 

I know many people aren't like me (I change vehicles frequently), but if you have the additional buy-in capital, a diesel is a major win in resale.  Add in the fuel savings (which isn't quite as good as it used to be) and its hard to find a diesel that doesn't put more money back in your pocket compared to gas.

I was mainly talking about running costs. Around my area trucks are a premium, and good ones, gas or diesel,  don't depreciate much beyond his price range. Actually it would be hard to find a good one in his price range period.

Keith Tanner said:

I don't think the "Dodge trucks suck but the engine is good" applies anymore. I've had no complaints with how my 2010 is holding up, but the 2006 my FIL owns is getting a little rough. Of course, I always treat it like I paid for it and I want to keep it for another 20 years, but it's certainly not falling apart.

Removing the DPF on the Cummins did not dramatically change the economy.

Unfortunately my friend went through 3 Aisin transmissions on his ‘14 Ram 3500. It was something different every time.

Oh and if the batteries lose their amperage, but still have voltage, and you have push button start, good luck getting the truck started. 

I still agree they are good trucks regardless, just FCA has made some poor decisions on the newer trucks. 

m4ff3w said:

I think 6.0l Power Strokes are a tremendous value.  I loved  mine.

I did swap the oil cooler (previous owner had the EGR done, but they didn't use an OEM oil cooler)

That’s walking on eggshells, unless you have it documented that the 6.0L has been bulletproofed, there are some sketchy people selling 6.0L trucks. There were the lucky few that didn’t fail, but it’s still a crapshoot. 

SVreX said:

These threads are always very predictable. 

You mean that you tell the OP he doesn’t need a diesel truck? 

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

Keith Tanner said:

I don't think the "Dodge trucks suck but the engine is good" applies anymore. I've had no complaints with how my 2010 is holding up, but the 2006 my FIL owns is getting a little rough. Of course, I always treat it like I paid for it and I want to keep it for another 20 years, but it's certainly not falling apart.

Removing the DPF on the Cummins did not dramatically change the economy.

Unfortunately my friend went through 3 Aisin transmissions on his ‘14 Ram 3500. It was something different every time.

Oh and if the batteries lose their amperage, but still have voltage, and you have push button start, good luck getting the truck started. 

I still agree they are good trucks regardless, just FCA has made some poor decisions on the newer trucks. 

If you don't have amperage, you're not going to start the truck regardless of what the mechanism is!

I do believe that every Dodge truck should come with the recall notice for the tie rod ends in the glovebox, because they WILL be recalled.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

m4ff3w said:

I think 6.0l Power Strokes are a tremendous value.  I loved  mine.

I did swap the oil cooler (previous owner had the EGR done, but they didn't use an OEM oil cooler)

That’s walking on eggshells, unless you have it documented that the 6.0L has been bulletproofed, there are some sketchy people selling 6.0L trucks. There were the lucky few that didn’t fail, but it’s still a crapshoot. 

If it's never been tuned then all it needs is the egr and oil cooler and maybe a ficm here and there. My stock 06 6.0 f250 was very reliable for me and the previous owner. 

2000 7.3 excursion 2wd 220k miles:

I did a 100mile round trip in my truck today 100% highway 65mph , 20.8 mpg.

Did a similar 100 mile round trip last week with about 3k lbs behind me at 65mph, 16mpg. 

When I daily it to work (18 miles round trip) in 100% light to light traffic it's constant 14.4 mpg. I romp on it to keep up with traffic. 

Ransom said:

EDIT: I do have a pair of locking gas caps on their way from RockAuto. When the 318-powered van dipped under 10mpg that helped, though I did wind up with some retribution graffiti on the side.

Huh?  Folks were stealing your gas, then vandalized your vehicle?  Crazy!

yupididit said:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

m4ff3w said:

I think 6.0l Power Strokes are a tremendous value.  I loved  mine.

I did swap the oil cooler (previous owner had the EGR done, but they didn't use an OEM oil cooler)

That’s walking on eggshells, unless you have it documented that the 6.0L has been bulletproofed, there are some sketchy people selling 6.0L trucks. There were the lucky few that didn’t fail, but it’s still a crapshoot. 

 

If it's never been tuned then all it needs is the egr and oil cooler and maybe a ficm here and there. My stock 06 6.0 f250 was very reliable for me and the previous owner. 

This is true, but I know people who lost motors without a tune. My buddy just bought an ‘07 F350 Dualle with the 6.0L and it was never touched and it runs just fine. He had some hiccups with the fuel injection, but he got it all sorted out. 

Keith Tanner said:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

Keith Tanner said:

I don't think the "Dodge trucks suck but the engine is good" applies anymore. I've had no complaints with how my 2010 is holding up, but the 2006 my FIL owns is getting a little rough. Of course, I always treat it like I paid for it and I want to keep it for another 20 years, but it's certainly not falling apart.

Removing the DPF on the Cummins did not dramatically change the economy.

Unfortunately my friend went through 3 Aisin transmissions on his ‘14 Ram 3500. It was something different every time.

Oh and if the batteries lose their amperage, but still have voltage, and you have push button start, good luck getting the truck started. 

I still agree they are good trucks regardless, just FCA has made some poor decisions on the newer trucks. 

If you don't have amperage, you're not going to start the truck regardless of what the mechanism is!

I do believe that every Dodge truck should come with the recall notice for the tie rod ends in the glovebox, because they WILL be recalled.

Except the fact that the truck had been starting up fine all day and he shut it off at a truck stop. Had 13v on one battery and 14v on the other. The LCD screen in the gauge cluster went all sorts of retarded and he kept pushing the the button until it finally kicked over. Started up just fine too. Shut it off at a different stop and I had to jump start it off my truck. Found out through Ram that it’s like an early warning system to let you know the batteries were going to fail. 

Didn't believe it until I had to jump start a 2015 Ram 3500 in Oregon for the same exact thing. 

I've had a few batteries fail like that. Happy happy happy...nothing. Including the ones in my non-push button Dodge. I think it's a battery failure mode. 

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

SVreX said:

These threads are always very predictable. 

You mean that you tell the OP he doesn’t need a diesel truck? 

I know I don't need a diesel, I was trying to decide if I should buy a diesel. I intend to always have a full size truck, so I thought it would be worth thinking about. I don't know if it's this way all over the country, but around here diesel fuel is more expensive than gas. From the numbers I'm reading here from guys for mileage I think gas vs diesel is pretty well a draw in dollars per mile. I do some towing, but not enough to say that I require a diesel for that reason either. I do like the way a diesel sounds though. 

The ads I'm seeing here in Ohio it looks like $8-9k can get you a clean dmax with a ton of miles, a ford 7.3 with under 200,000 miles but varying amounts of rust, a ford 6.0 without too many miles but unfortunately is a 6.0, or a Cummins from when Bill Clinton was president.

I would say that if you want a diesel, get a diesel.  I love diesel.  If I had more than $4000 to spend on a truck right now, I'd be looking for a 06-07 Duramax.  $10k is a tough number though.  I would look for the cleanest 7.3L or bulletproofed 6.0L for that, but expect it to need things.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't spend much on vehicles, so I'm used to looking hard for the diamond in the rough.  The problem when you do that kind of thing is that it doesn't really matter how reliable the reputation of the vehicle is, you're at the mercy of how the previous owner treated it.  Its one thing to buy a used Camry with 20k miles off a lease, it's another thing to buy a Cummins with 275k not knowing how frequently they changed the oil or the fuel filter.

In reply to gearheadmb :

I’m just giving SVreX crap. 

Just food for thought though, I bought an ‘07 GMC 2500HD 4x4 with 225k on the odo in 2016. I just passed 514k on my last trip back home and the only engine related thing I’ve done to that Duramax is replaced the water pump twice. Other than that, front wheel bearings have also been replaced twice. Everything else was I’ve had to do was minor crap that had to do more with the age of the truck and the fact that it spent the first half of its like in the hot Texas sun. 

The LMM Duramax is a great motor. 

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

I bought an ‘07 GMC 2500HD 4x4 with 225k on the odo in 2016. I just passed 514k on my last trip back home....

There's a typo here right? Did you really drive 289k miles in 2 years!?!?!? That's 46 hours per week behind the wheel with an average speed of 60mph. Every week. For 2 years.

STM317 said:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

I bought an ‘07 GMC 2500HD 4x4 with 225k on the odo in 2016. I just passed 514k on my last trip back home....

There's a typo here right? Did you really drive 289k miles in 2 years!?!?!? That's 46 hours per week behind the wheel with an average speed of 60mph. Every week. For 2 years.

No typo. That’s my job. Living the life of a truck driver with a pickup truck. Easy way to find out who makes good tires and dependable trucks. 

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

yupididit said:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

m4ff3w said:

I think 6.0l Power Strokes are a tremendous value.  I loved  mine.

I did swap the oil cooler (previous owner had the EGR done, but they didn't use an OEM oil cooler)

That’s walking on eggshells, unless you have it documented that the 6.0L has been bulletproofed, there are some sketchy people selling 6.0L trucks. There were the lucky few that didn’t fail, but it’s still a crapshoot. 

 

If it's never been tuned then all it needs is the egr and oil cooler and maybe a ficm here and there. My stock 06 6.0 f250 was very reliable for me and the previous owner. 

This is true, but I know people who lost motors without a tune. My buddy just bought an ‘07 F350 Dualle with the 6.0L and it was never touched and it runs just fine. He had some hiccups with the fuel injection, but he got it all sorted out. 

I know the 03/04 motors were popping just for fun lol

gearheadmb said:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid said:

SVreX said:

These threads are always very predictable. 

You mean that you tell the OP he doesn’t need a diesel truck? 

I know I don't need a diesel, I was trying to decide if I should buy a diesel. I intend to always have a full size truck, so I thought it would be worth thinking about. I don't know if it's this way all over the country, but around here diesel fuel is more expensive than gas. From the numbers I'm reading here from guys for mileage I think gas vs diesel is pretty well a draw in dollars per mile. I do some towing, but not enough to say that I require a diesel for that reason either. I do like the way a diesel sounds though. 

The ads I'm seeing here in Ohio it looks like $8-9k can get you a clean dmax with a ton of miles, a ford 7.3 with under 200,000 miles but varying amounts of rust, a ford 6.0 without too many miles but unfortunately is a 6.0, or a Cummins from when Bill Clinton was president.

Look south, southwest, and cali. A rust free truck will hold its value in your area. Yeah you'll have to pay up for that fly and drive but at least it'll be clean enough to not have a problem selling it when the time comes.